Choose the Future – Education for Sustainable Development – Conference Report

The 'Choose the Future' conference report details a three-day event in Winnipeg focused on integrating sustainable development into education, business, and government. It highlights keynote addresses on global sustainability, corporate strategies for 'triple bottom line' success, and various concurrent sessions on Arctic climate change, Indigenous perspectives, and K-12 curriculum integration in Manitoba and other Canadian provinces.

• Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is defined as a process of learning to make decisions that consider the long-term future of economy, ecology, and equity, and it encompasses formal, non-formal, and informal education models.
• Corporate sustainability can be framed as a business advantage; sustainable companies may see a potential profit increase of 66 per cent by reducing recruiting and attrition costs, increasing productivity, and improving corporate image.
• The Arctic is experiencing rapid warming, with a loss of 70,000 km2 of multi-year ice per year, leading to predictions of a seasonally ice-free Arctic by 2015.
• Indigenous perspectives on sustainability emphasize a 'seven generations' approach and the importance of traditional knowledge, which is often intertwined with the environment and language.
• Manitoba has integrated sustainable development into its K-12 curriculum through the Sustainable Development Act of 1998 and an Education for Sustainability Action Plan (2004–2008), providing grants and resources to schools.
• Patrick Moore argues that renewable energy sources like wind and solar are insufficient to replace fossil fuels, which produce 87 per cent of the world's energy, and suggests a combination of nuclear and renewable energy is the only viable path.
• The University of Winnipeg has implemented a Sustainability Management System based on the ISO 14001 EMS model to address all aspects of institutional operations and programming.
• Climate change education faces challenges because gradual environmental changes are difficult to perceive and the complexity of the science can lead to 'latent environmental depression' in students.

APA

Gislason, R., Buckler, C., & Creech, H. (2008). Choose the Future – Education for Sustainable Development – Conference Report. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/choose_the_future.pdf

Chicago

Gislason, Robin, Carolee Buckler, and Heather Creech. Choose the Future – Education for Sustainable Development – Conference Report. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2008. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/choose_the_future.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{gislason2008choose, author = {Gislason, Robin and Buckler, Carolee and Creech, Heather}, title = {{Choose the Future – Education for Sustainable Development – Conference Report}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2008}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/choose_the_future.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }